TRAVELLERS

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Emergency powers will help villages in Derbyshire to take action against travellers, setting up illegal camps. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has promised that by the end of 2004, local councils will have powers to order an immediate stop for travellers building camps in fields, even if they own the site. These new powers also coincide with an ongoing investigation by a committee of MPs, into the problem of people settling on illegal sites in the county. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's (ODPM) select committee is to take evidence from Siobhan Spencer, co-ordinator of Derbyshire Gypsy and Traveller Liaison Group.

The committee aims to publish a report on traveller sites, to advise the Government on what permanent legislative steps it should take. Under the new temporary emergency measures by the ODPM, the Government aims to combat the growing problem of travellers buying fields from farmers or landowners, with the sole intention of inviting others to settle there. Due to a loophole in the law, if the travellers own the land then councils cannot evict them. But now, under the new powers, a council will be able to place temporary "stop notices" on a site, preventing travellers from putting caravans on hard-standings, or making other developments that would damage the land, pending a planning inquiry.

The powers do not allow for evictions but will stop any further development of the site while eviction notices are prepared. MP for South Derbyshire Mark Todd said it was vital the ODPM recommends tougher powers, to allow the swift removal of travellers from illegally setting up encampments. Mr Todd said South Derbyshire District Council had recently spent approximately £80,000 pounds, over a period of just a few months, trying to put up barriers to prevent travellers from repeatedly returning to illegal sites in Willington and just outside Foston.

Two current legal traveller sites already exist in Foston and Lullington but many travellers choose to illegally set up camp elsewhere. He said, "I believe that, where it's responsible to do so, we should give consent for developers to set up their own site. But we need to balance that with a robust response to illegal occupations, and the significant environmental damage this brings." Recently, Derbyshire Dales District Council moved away an illegal camp from Uttoxeter Road, in Foston. One Foston resident, who asked not to be named, said, "The thing I object to most is the cost of clearing up afterwards. I am pleased about them getting moved off but it is sad that Derbyshire has so many travellers." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

Siobhan Spencer, co-ordinator of Derbyshire Gypsy Traveller Liason Group, said that because of the lack of adequate sites provided for them, the gypsy community was being criminalised by being forced to form illegal encampments. Labour MP for South Derbyshire, Mark Todd, said one of the main reasons travellers did not get licences for new legal sites was because communities behaved so badly and left so much mess on illegal and legal encampments. He said, "It has long been accepted that travellers choose to occupy sites which are not legal. But what becomes unacceptable is what travellers do when they get there, in other words, their behaviour on the site itself.

This often involves travellers dumping a great deal of waste on the site like dead animals or excrement, and then passing straight on to another site to do it all over again." Mark Todd claimed that a growing number of people have abandoned their fixed homes and become gypsies to dodge taxes. Mr Todd said the rising number of gypsies in Britain is partly due to some of the community's disreputable intentions and said he would welcome any Government provision for more gypsy sites, as long as tax collection was enforced, and the traveller community kept them clean.

He said, "Some of the people involved do not pay tax, national insurance and so on. If you are to provide additional official sites, you must therefore ensure that the traveller community pay the same taxes as other people. More people are choosing what they regard as an alternative lifestyle which is free from the regulations and interests of the tax man and local authorities, and so on." Mr Todd added, "The travelling way of life has long been accepted in south Derbyshire, but there are frequent cases of abuse, where people's properties are occupied illegally and trashed, and rubbish is dumped all over it. So, with increased provision must come increased social responsibility."

Gipsies get away with wrecking the countryside because they are being handed pathetic fines. While householders dropping a single sweet wrapper are stung with £50 penalties, travellers can drive away laughing from mountains of filth. Even when they are caught they escape with a virtual slap on the wrist. In one case three gispies were caught on CCTV ditching EIGHT TONS of rubbish on a road at the end of a three-day stay. Dumpers can be jailed for six months and ordered to pay £20,000, yet these were fined a total of just £290. Senior council officials in Wakefield, West Yorks, said they were “very disappointed” at the fines, including one of £40, imposed by the city’s magistrates.

One official said, “Community support wardens hand out fixed penalty tickets of £50 or so for people dropping wrappers in the street. Yet these three gipsies got fines ranging from just £40 to £150. “It is absolutely absurd. No wonder people think there is one rule for the travellers and another for everyone else.” In Murston, near Sittingbourne, Kent, travellers left a trail of refuse. A group of 14 caravans arrived just before Christmas. Within days tyres were burned on graves, a baby buggy hung from a tree, piles of rubbish were dumped around the village and large gas canisters and fridges littered fields. (Source: The Sun)

Gipsies who have been ordered to leave their illegal camp were suspected of a late night revenge attack in which the cars of two prominent campaigners against the site were wrecked. Julia Tibbs and Hilary Harris, who share a terrace cottage adjacent to the site in the Somerset village of North Curry, appealed to police for protection after a Toyota 4x4 crashed through their five-bar wooden gate and repeatedly rammed their Peugeot 206 cars. The cars were struck with such force that one of them was shunted into a hedge, while the other was battered into Miss Tibbs's photographic studio. Insurance engineers were yesterday examining the vehicles, which appeared to be write-offs. The attack happened hours after a planning inspector had ruled that the gipsies must leave the site within 12 months. John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, had backed the decision.

John Williams, the Conservative leader of the local Taunton Deane council, said, "The people who perpetrated this do not deserve to belong to a civilised society. It is appalling. It is not just Julia and Hilary that have suffered from a direct assault, it is the ripple of fear that will pass out into the whole community." The gipsies bought the field at auction, and carefully co-ordinated an "occupation" of the site. Over a weekend, they turned it into a camp, with roads, fencing, septic tanks, and a children's play area. It was the first time that gipsies had adopted the tactic of setting up camp after council offices had closed for the weekend, and then applying for retrospective planning permission. Up to 50 gipsies moved on to the site, which they named Greenacres for postal deliveries. Their rubbish is now picked up and the children attend local schools.

Residents had complained that the gipsies' actions had "suddenly and rudely" interrupted 900 years of peace in the village. Taunton Deane borough council refused the gipsies permission to stay and the planning inspector upheld the decision. The garden of Miss Tibbs and Miss Harris is separated from the field only by a small hedge. The close proximity of the cottage was cited as one of the reasons for the rejection. The pair once enjoyed sweeping views over the Somerset Levels. But the inspector said their "visual amenities were reduced to a level far below that which ought to be reasonably expected." Jake Bowers, for the Romany Gipsies Council, said there was no evidence to suggest gipsies were behind the attack, and claimed it may have been an accident. He added, “It would be foolish for gipsies to do this. We don’t behave in this way.” (Source: The Telegraph)

Government figures show that unauthorised vans on land owned by travellers which local councils are ignoring have increased four fold while those which authorities are trying to evict are up nearly three fold. It comes two months after it was disclosed that police have been told not to evict illegal gipsy camps from private land unless they cause other problems such as crime. There were a total of 3,680 caravans on unauthorised sites in England as of January this year, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

That was an increase of 51% on the 2,426 illegal caravans in January 2000 and caravans unlawfully sited on land owned by gipsies have risen sharply but local councils are increasingly leaving them, despite them breaching planning rules. An illegal site or caravan is classed as "tolerated" if the council has decided not to seek it's removal and in January there were 1,279 such vans on land owned by travellers, more than four times the 299 vans tolerated in 2000.

Similar, there were 1,086 illegal caravans which authorities were taking enforcement action against as of January this year, almost three times the 429 in 2000. It emerged in January that the number of gipsy and traveller sites being forced on councils has more than doubled in two years. Planning inspectors now approve two in three appeals for sites which town halls had rejected, when previously they only approved one in three. (Source: Daily Telegraph, Jun/09)

A frightened farmer who called 999 after gipsies threatened to kill her was stunned when the police who eventually arrived told her they would confiscate her legally held shotguns. Tracy St Clair Pearce was confronted by four men carrying a chainsaw and a knife, who warned her they would kill her cattle at her farm in Colchester, Essex. She called police late on Good Friday to report the threat, but was left gobsmacked when officers took 35 minutes to get to her home, before telling her they would confiscate her shotguns. The ordeal came just days after travellers set up an illegal camp on council land bordering Mrs St Clair Pearce's home.

She has now lodged a formal complaint with police after claiming officers took more than half-an-hour to arrive following her terrified 999 call. Mrs St Clair Pearce's brother, Stuart, said his sister had felt threatened but told the travellers 'in no uncertain terms' to leave her land or she would call the police. He said, "They were being abusive and threatening a woman who was on her own in a field. They told her they were going to slit her throat and the throats of our cattle and horses. Does "I am going to slit your throat?" come into normal conversations?" He said they had been visited by police more than 10 times since the Good Friday incident and made to feel as though they were the aggressors.

He said, "The officers have said it is wrong to confront them and that we should have turned our backs and called the police. But when we did call the police they did not even arrive for half-an-hour. When the police did arrive, they had this incredible attitude that somehow we were to blame. I actually had to turn round and tell one young officer, "Excuse me, you are talking to the victims of crime here"." Mr St Clair Pearce said his sister was clearing ragwort from the field and using a knife to do so. He thinks the travellers were incited by seeing the knife in his sister's hand when she told them to get off her land.

He said, "My sister has grown up with a load of brothers, so she was not fazed when they started being aggressive towards her. But there is only so much you can take and to be told you would have your throat slit and your animals throats cut is too much. The officers were particularly interested in making sure that she did not have any firearms at the property." Mr St Clair Pearce said since the incident his sister had voluntarily removed the guns from her property. He also confirmed she did not use them at any stage to threaten the travellers. Essex Police have confirmed no arrests have been made in connection with the allegations of threats to kill, although statements have been taken.

At one stage there were 18 caravans illegally camped on the council-owned land although the numbers have been dropping gradually in recent days as the travellers move on. The site has been earmarked for a legal travellers' site but Colchester Borough Council has yet to open it. Inspector Jim White of Essex Police said, "In order to prevent any public order incidents, and to keep members of the public safe, we obtained a warrant to remove firearms. The keeper of the firearms cabinet was not at the address when we arrived, so we will return when the owner is able to give us access."

Chief Superintendent Alison Newcomb said, "We are supporting Colchester Council, who own the land, and are working with them to find a solution to this situation. We take any threatening or violent behaviour very seriously and are investigating this incident. This is a long-running and sensitive issue. Counter allegations have been made on both sides and the situation is not as clear cut as it seems. Our powers of eviction have been considered, however, the threshold has not been met, so we need to be balanced and proportionate in our response. Our number one priority is to keep the public safe." (Source: Daily Mail, Apr/11)

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